Would a few of these recumbents make your class more inclusive?
Would you agree that Indoor Cycles are a poor method/modality of exercise – for some populations?
There's a long list of people who would never consider participating in our classes, or even riding an indoor cycle alone at home. There's a bunch of reasons:
Physical limitations
Obese/overweight
Existing injury
Just plain afraid of that skinny, little, bicycle saddle 🙁
So, would it make sense to add a few recumbent cycles to your studio?
The reason I'm asking is because I met a great guy at this past IHRSA convention. John Kennedy's company, Cascade Health and Fitness, manufactures that recumbent cycle pictured above. He shared his idea to incorporate recumbent indoor cycles, into a traditional indoor cycling class, to accommodate people who won't or can't ride a conventional Indoor Cycle. I'll admit, at first it sounded like a crazy idea to me. But the more I thought about the potential to make our classes more accessible I got excited.
That would mean more butts-in-seats = people exercising. I'm all for that!
The first place I can see recumbents making a positive impact is in Parkinson's Cycling Classes. Parkinson's Cycling Coach Kathy Helmuth has taught me that many people suffering with PD have physical limitations.
The symptomatic relief that comes from cycling isn't available to someone who can't ride a typical cycle. A recumbent is completely different; a big comfy seat that sits low and a step-through frame that anyone who can stand should be able to mount. I think this could be a way to make PD cycling classes more inclusive. Awesome!
What about your run-of-the-mill cycling class? Would a recumbent work there too?
I've got no idea, so let's find out!
We're conducting an experiment
We're looking for two studios to participate in a trial to see what happens when you add a few recumbents to a cycling studio. John has offered two of their recumbents at no cost + you'll keep them in the end.
In exchange they're asking that you:
Install the recumbents in your studio and make them available in as many classes as possible.
Experiment with different class formats, profiles, cuing, etc. You'll be charting new territory here and I'm happy to help you as much as possible.
Actively promote this new accommodation to your customers – running the trial to see what happens for two months.
At the end of the trial you will be interviewed by me on my podcast We will explore what worked and what didn't, your ideas for improvements, etc…
You'll provide a few short video interviews, where you discuss these classes with your actual participants.
Sadly this is what some people see when they look at your Indoor Cycles. Image from www.bikeradar.com
The big IHRSA convention starts tomorrow (can't wait) and as a follow up to my visit last year I wrote this article. If you visit that link and scroll down a bit, you'll see this image of a banner displayed at the entrance of the convention.
Recumbents in a Group Cycling class?
At the time I wrote:
This banner was the very first thing you saw walking into the LA convention center. My first impression was; “that’s dumb… who would ever want to ride a recumbent bicycle in an Indoor Cycling class?”
As I walked past this display I did a double take and then it hit me > there’s a huge population of people who are intimidated by the skinny, little seats on Indoor Cycles.
Obese/overweight people for starters and you can’t forget Seniors. Together they make up a sizable demographic that we are completely missing. They’re two groups who would really benefit from the comfort of riding on a recumbent, with its large seat and easy to step through design.
Despite all of the technological changes we've witnessed (Power Meters, Virtual Ride Videos & Display Training systems) + the massive increases in popularity (Thank You SoulCycle), Indoor Cycling is still failing to attract large segments of society who would really benefit from our classes.
I'll bet you can quickly describe the profiles of the typical people you do not see in your classes. They include:
Obese people of either gender.
Pregnant women.
People with a physical impairment or limitation – I group all the folks with back injuries here.
Seniors / Elderly living with everything negative that comes from aging.
People recovering from an injury.
Why is that? What's preventing (or discouraging) all the people in these groups from experiencing your awesome class? That skinny saddle for one thing. In the mind of someone 100lbs over weight, it may as well have sharp spikes sticking out… what about the person with a bad back? No way they'll even consider bending forward to reach those handlebars, no matter how high you adjust them. A common scourge of aging is limited mobility; “there's no way I could ever climb on that bicycle. My hips and knees just don't flex like they used to.”
It's the design, stupid.
The riding position of Indoor and outdoor cycles, while perfect for you and me, just doesn't appeal to the populations listed above. In fact there are many who would be terrified at the thought of mounting and riding the Indoor Cycles in your studio.
However they might be willing to join your class, if you offered them a recumbent to ride…
Again from last year's article I added;
I talked at length with the representative from Cascade Health & Fitness about helping them establish a few beta recumbent cycling locations. They are very motivated to meet with anyone who’s interested.
As it turned out there were some Instructors who were interested to experiment with adding a few recumbent Indoor Cycles to their classes. John Kennedy with Cascade Health and Fitness provided three studios each with a pair of recumbents and now, after about six months of use, we're hearing some favorable responses 🙂
Marietta Colberg Roberts is the Fitness Director at Old Town Hot Springs in Steamboat Springs CO. Listen as she describes her experiences bringing people into her classes, who otherwise wouldn't attend.
There was some self-delusion to go along with lots of new fitness products and services.
There were a few things of interest at IHRSA this year that I'd like to tell you about:
NOTE: I completely overestimated my available time to write my review of the Stages SC3 = I hope to have it completed by Sunday… but don't wait for me if you're planning to pull the trigger on a studio > The SC3 is a solid IC option and I wouldn't have any reservations recommending it for your new studio.
Recumbent Indoor Cycling Classes?
This banner was the very first thing you saw walking into the LA convention center. My first impression was; “that's dumb… who would ever want to ride a recumbent bicycle in an Indoor Cycling class?”
As I walked past this display I did a double take and then it hit me > there's a huge population of people who are intimidated by the skinny, little seats on Indoor Cycles. Obese/overweight people for starters and you can't forget Seniors. Together they make up a sizable demographic that we are completely missing. They're two groups who would really benefit from the comfort of riding on a recumbent, with its large seat and easy to step through design.
UPDATE 3/16 – you can hear from a fitness director, who's been including recumbents in her classes with great success, in this podcast.
I talked at length with the representative from Cascade Health & Fitness about helping them establish a few beta recumbent cycling locations. They are very motivated to meet with anyone who's interested. Please let me know using our contact page.
Spinning® / Star Trac
There's a belt hiding in there.
Star Trac has expanded their Black Belt option to the full line of commercial Spinner® Indoor Cycles, including the Blade Ion. But you wouldn't know it just by looking at it. Where the NXT carries the “Black Belt” logo on the frame, the Ion has no markings indicating if it's chain or belt drive.
I rode the Ion briefly and my initial impression was that this belt is both quiet and smooth. Yes you're missing the feel of the chain, but whatever they've done, the Ion didn't have the vague/weird feel some bikes using a similar flat belt have.
I discussed the question of, “why not use the Gates toothed belt?” with Mad Dogg Athletic's CEO John Baudhuin. John explained that they had experimented with the Gates belt years ago. What they found was a drive system that uses a heavily weighted flywheel just works better with the flat belt they've chosen. Which makes sense, the brands using the Gates belt (Schwinn/FreeMotion/Stages) all are using a much lighter flywheel.
Schwinn
Schwinn has completely redesigned their Triple Link Indoor Cycling Pedal. No, unfortunately my Red Pedal Tool won't work with the redesigned shoe basket. This pedal has much larger bearings on both ends for increased reliability + they attach using the Morse Taper that's similar the Spinning® pedals.
NOTE: these can only be used with a new Schwinn AC – older versions use conventional 9/16s threaded pedals. I'm waiting on clarity from Schwinn to learn if this new pedal will be offered in a 9/16 threaded version.
There's another upgraded Mpower Echelon (version 2) console and power meter for the AC performance. They've made a substantial number of changes and improvements to the (previously Red) Echelon console and I'm hoping to have a Schwinn representative on the podcast to discuss all of them soon.
Keiser
http://icipromedia.s3.amazonaws.com/Keiser_M3.wmv
Refresh your browser if you're not seeing the video above.
Did you know that the new M3i has a stage/interval timer? I didn't until Amy and I spent some time with Dennis Keiser. While we were chatting I made the suggestion; “you know Dennis, I would really like to have the option to record the average wattage during a short interval… you should consider adding that in the future.” Dennis's response was; “we all ready have it.” We all went over to a M3i and Dennis showed us (video above) how easy it is to start and stop the stage/interval timer > all you need to do is stroke the gear-shift lever all the way down and then back up 🙂
